Jupiter Project

Contents

I. Introduction:

Space is a wonderful and magnificent creation, but it is the objects that is included in our solar system that make the sciences such as astronomy and astrology such interesting topics to study. Jupiter is just one of these extraordinary topics that is included in our galaxy. Out of the other planets which include Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus. Jupiter stands out the most. Jupiter is easily recognized by its size. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, and its known that the mass of Jupiter is twice the amount of all other planets in our solar system combined.

Jupiter is the fifth planet in order from the sun. It has a composition similar to that of stars. Jupiter is made up entirely gas and liquid, and classified along with Neptune, Saturn, and Uranus as Gas Giants. They are called gas giants because they are spinning spheres of gas that has no solid surfaces.

II. Statistics

Mass - 1.898 × 10^27 kg

Radius - 43,441 mi

Density - 1.33 g/cm³

Distance from the Sun - 483.8 million mi

Rotational Period - About 10 hours

Tilt of axis - 3 degrees

III. Composition:

Jupiter is comprised of 90% hydrogen and 10% helium (a 75/25% mass ratio) and contains small amounts of methane, water, oxygen and ammonia. According to scientists, this chemical composition matches closely to the solar nebula that formed our solar system in the early stages of development. Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune also have a similar chemical makeup, but Uranus and Neptune have less hydrogen and helium. Since Jupiter is a gas planet, there is no solid surface. This means that if one stepped onto the planet, he would sink into it and eventually get crushed by the massive increase in pressure (the gaseous compounds get denser with depth) or be vaporized by the hot temperatures near the center. Thus, what we see when we observe the surface of Jupiter is the atmosphere that extends deep into the planet.

IV. Orbit:

Jupiter orbits the sun in the counterclockwise direction as seen from the north.Its orbit is similar to the shape of a circle (The focus points which make up Jupiter's orbits are very close to each other). The radius of Jupiter's orbit is approximately 5 AU. The period of
Jupiter's orbit is about 12 years. Jupiter rotates in about 10 hours.

V. Special features:

Rings

Jupiter's main ring system is formed by dust kicked up as interplanetary meteoroids smash into the giant planet's four small inner moons: Almathea, Thebe, Adrastea and Metis. The rings were discovered by Voyager 1. The ring system begins about 92,000 kilometers (55,000 miles) from Jupiter's center and extends to about 250,000 kilometers (150,000 miles) from the planet. One Voyager image seemed to indicate a third, faint outer ring.

The Galileo spacecraft found a flattened main ring and an inner, cloud-like ring, called the halo, both composed of small, dark particles, and a third ring known as the Gossamer Ring. The third ring is actually two very thin rings made up of debris from Amalthea and Thebe. Unlike Saturn's rings, there are no signs of ice in Jupiter's rings.

Atmosphere

Is driven by strong zonal winds, and analogous to the jet stream on Earth.

Atmosphere is made up of an array of belts and zones which rotate in an east-west direction.

Light zones are regions of air, forming ammonia cirrus clouds.

Dark belts are regions where the cooler the circulation moves downward, because of the ammonia clouds, which are deeper in the atmosphere.

The speed is about 300 km/hr and theses speeds have not changed for hundreds of years.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot

Jupiter's red pot is actually a anticyclonic storm. A anticyclonic storm is a storm were the winds are flowing opposite to the direction dictated by the Coriolis effect. However, all gas giants tent to have these storms, and Jupiter even has a few white and brown storms, but unlike the Great Red Spot, they tend to not last compared to how long the Red Spot has lasted.

Infrared data has shown that the spot is colder than most of the other clouds, indicating that its altitude is higher.

One fact still remains and is still being worked on till this day, despite Jupiter being around so long. The red spot is a storm, and they usually fade within hours, to decades, and even centuries. The Great Red Spot, however, has gone on for much longer than it should. Some people theorize its been absorbing smaller storms, but even this wouldn't of kept it alive for as long as its been around.

This problem isn't new, and even the theories we have can't even explain some of the weird phenomenon around some of Earth's storms. We do know however, that the eye is shrinking and will eventually go away.

Extra information

Random Facts

Was the King of Gods and ruler of Olympus

The fourth brightest object in the sky after the Sun, Moon, and Venus.

Known as the "Wandering Star"

Galileo was the first to discover Jupiter's four large moons Lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

Galileo was the first to record the motion back and forth around Jupiter.